Winning In The Rain: All I Want For Christmas

Saturday 26th July 2014
Pre-Season Friendly
Glencruitten 1
Kick off 1.45pm
Oban Saints AFC 3 - 2 Greenock High School Former Pupils AFC
Referee Mr John Scott

Saints line up:-

Graham Douglas (GK), David MacPhee, Alex Craik, Marc MacCallum (Captain), Roy McLuckie, Scott Maitland, Paul Kerr, Donald Campbell, Craig MacEwan, Lewis Cameron, Allan Mackay.
Substitutes: Stuart Alexander, David Beaton, Martin Bonar, Shaun MacIver, Dean Smith

Saints and old friends Greenock HSFP served up a very competitive and highly entertaining pre-season friendly on the rugby pitch at Glencruitten last Saturday afternoon. Thankfully the searing heat of the previous few days was replaced with something far more typical of the Oban summer i.e.heavy rain. The cooler temperature and slick playing surface helped the players keep up a tempo more reminiscent of a cup tie than a friendly much to the enjoyment of the Saints faithful who had turned out in reasonable numbers for this eagerly anticipated annual match.
The High started brightly and tested Saints keeper Graham Douglas twice in the opening two minutes. Saints were forced into an early change when central midfield linch-pin Paul Kerr sustained a nasty facial injury. It may only be July but unfortunately for Paul he already knows what he wants for Christmas! Acting Management duo David Buchanan and Peter MacCallum introduced substitute Stuart Alexander to the right of midfield switching Roy McLuckie to the central role vacated by Paul Kerr. Saints soon weathered the early Greenock pressure and began to fashion a few chances of their own. A quickly taken short corner with Craig MacEwan gave Donald Campbell a scoring opportunity but his right foot drive from the corner of the six yard box flew inches past the junction of post and bar. Allan Mackay had the ball in the Greenock net calmly slotting home when one on one with the keeper but was adjudged by referee John Scott to be offside. Saints took the lead in the 23rd minute when Craig MacEwan's low cross from the left wing picked out Stuart Alexander's run into the box. The youngster's perfectly placed finish into the bottom corner of the net gave Greenock keeper William Swan no chance. Donald Campbell's afternoon came to a disappointingly premature end in the 26th minute when he received a kick to the outside of his left foot and was replaced by Martin Bonar. Donald's injury was later diagnosed as a broken metatarsal which will mean a spell in plaster and a lengthy lay off for the inspirational Saints midfielder. Winning In The Rain wishes both "Wee Fella Don" and "The Real Paul Kerr" a speedy recovery. This substitution brought about another reshuffle with Craig MacEwan moving infield and Martin Bonar taking up the wide left berth. Saints continued to press forward and should have increased their lead after 35 minutes when Martin Bonar headed over from close range after a Stuart Alexander cross from the right wing. Martin fared better two minutes later when his late run into the box was picked out by Lewis Cameron allowing him to squeeze home from inside the six yard box. The High were disappointed to go two down after having started so well and quickly forced Saints back after the restart. Graham Douglas in the Saints goal was again forced into action and with the Greenock pressure building was eventually beaten on the stroke of half-time by a well struck Gary Loughran strike from the edge of the box.
Saints opened the second half strongly with the pace and trickery of Lewis Cameron giving the High defence plenty to think about. A surging run and cross from Lewis in the inside right channel only narrowly failed to pick out substitute Dean Smith at the near post on the 50 minute mark. Scott Maitland then made a surging run into the Greenock box but his shot went wide of the keeper's left hand post. Saints made more changes as the half progressed withdrawing first half substitutes Stuart Alexander and Martin Bonar and replacing them with David Beaton and Shaun MacIver. Saints appealed for a penalty on the hour mark when the High's Gary Loughran appeared to bring down Dean Smith just inside the box but referee John Scott was unimpressed. Dean then came close to restoring a two goal margin for Saints but his glacing header from six yards again finished wide of the goalkeepers left hand post. Greenock also made a number of good opportunities with Gary Loughran in particular creating problems for the right hand side of the Saints defence. The High equalised in the 75th minute when Alan McCabe took advantage of some uncharacteristically sloppy Saints defending to poke the ball home from close range following another attack down the Saints right. Despite this being a friendly there was no question of the sides settling for a draw and the high intensity of the play continued as both sets of players probed for a winner. Saints came close again in the 82nd minute when Craig MacEwan's perfectly timed goal bound near post header from a Lewis Cameron corner was cleared off the line by the Greenock defender guarding the right hand post. The winner came with just 5 minutes remaining when David Beaton made good progress up the right wing before delivering an inch perfect right foot cross onto the forehead of Allan Mackay. The header from last season's top scorer looped over the fingertips of goalkeeper William Swan and crept under the crossbar to extend Saints run of victories in this fixture to four in a row. Referee John Scott who had handled the match in his usual unfussy style brought an excellent workout for both sets of players to a close without any further scoring.

The build up to the new season continues for Saints this coming Saturday with the visit of the High's fellow Central Scottish Amateur Football League club Ashvale Victoria.